Applicability

Description

The objective of this technique is to make content easier to use by making
the placement of repeated components more predictable. This technique helps
maintain consistent layout or presentation between Web pages by presenting components that are repeated in these Web units in the same relative order each time they appear. Other
components can be inserted between them, but their relative order is not
changed.

This technique also applies to navigational components that are repeated.
Web pages often contain a navigation menu or other
navigational component that allows the user to jump to other Web pages. This technique makes the placement of navigational
components more predictable by presenting the links or programmatic
references inside a navigational component in the same relative order each
time the navigational component is repeated. Other links can be removed or
inserted between the existing ones, for example to allow navigation inside a
subsection of a set of Web pages, but the relative order is not
changed.

Examples

A Web site has a logo, a title, a search form and a navigation bar
at the top of each page; these appear in the same relative order on
each page where they are repeated. On one page the search form is
missing but the other items are still in the same order.

A Web site has a left-hand navigation menu with links to the major
sections of the site. When the user follows a link to another
section of the site, the links to the major sections appear in the
same relative order in the next page. Sometime links are dropped and
other links are added, but the other links always stay in the same
relative order. For example, on a Web site of a company that sells
products and offers training, when a user moves from the section on
products to the section on training, the links to individual
products are removed from the navigation list, while links to
training offerings are added.

Resources

Resources are for information purposes only, no endorsement implied.

Related Techniques

(none currently listed)

Tests

Procedure

List components that are repeated on each Web page in a set
of Web pages (for example, on each page in a Web site).

For each component, check that it appears in the same relative
order with regard to other repeated components on each Web page where it appears.

For each navigational component, check that the links or
programmatic references are always in the same relative order.